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ChimpReports6 November 2021President Yoweri Museveni has paid glowing tribute Dr. Gino Strada an Italian war surgeon, human rights and peace activist and founder of EMERGENCY, a recognized international non-governmental organization for the ultra-modern children surgical hospital in Entebbe, saying he has left a special gift for humanity right at the heart of the equator.   Dr. Strada died in August this year before the official commissioning of the hospital that he was looking forward to.   “Jesus died 2000 years ago but is remembered today because of his good deeds. Although Dr. Gino died, he has left behind a testimony of his character and contribution to humanity. The Italians have done something special for humanity right at the centre of the equator,” the President said.   The President was today commissioning an ultra-modern EMERGENCY Children’s Hospital for children 0-18 years at Nakiwogo in Entebbe Municipality. The facility designed by World renown architect Renzo Piano on a pro-bono basis is earth friendly, constructed using innovative solutions to minimize energy consumption, combining architectural excellence with State-of-the-art medical care. It provides the best environment for patients’ treatment and recovery.    President Museveni said the hospital, built on 30 acres of land donated by the UPDF (Special Forces Command) has got a number of interesting aspects; including the founder being a wonderful Christian with the concept of “caring about your neighbour as you love yourself” the core of Christianity; the architect as much as possible using nature and being environmentally friendly; and the donor Ms. Paola Coin, a rich, smart, small lady from the Italian city of Venus known for its story of Shylock, being a great philanthropist who donated US$8million towards construction of the hospital.    “This land was for SFC cattle farm. When I heard of the hospital, I said this was a more lifesaving effort than the cows. We gave them 30 acres. I am happy that there is another idea of adding a nurses training centre which can be part of this facility. We must see how to take advantage of the dedication by our partners from Italy. If we can have a nursing training school where they can impact both the skills and the passion,” he said.   The President later presented the 50th Uganda independence golden medal to the founder Dr. Gino Strada (Posthumously), the donor Ms. Paola Coin, the architect Mr.Renzo Piano, Rossella Miccio, President of EMERGENCY and Pietro Parrino, Director of EMERGENCY Field Operations Department. The 50^th Independence Golden medal is given to individuals by the President in recognition of their outstanding service and loyalty to the country.   The Entebbe hospital will become a referral point for surgery from patients across the continent. It is the second facility in EMERGENCY’s African Network of Medical Excellence (ANME), after EMERGENCY’s Salam Centre for Cardiac Surgery, built in Khartoum, Sudan, in 2007, which has treated patients from over 30 countries.   Situated on the banks of Lake Victoria, EMERGENCY’s Children’s Surgical Hospital opened its doors on Monday 19 April, but due to Covid-19 restrictions, the opening ceremony took place after six months of activities.   The facility has admitted 345 patients since opening, whilst 1,185 patients have been treated as outpatients. 355 surgical operations have taken place and the average patient age is five years old.   Ms. Rossella Miccio, president of EMERGENCY said the hospital is rapidly becoming a referral point for paediatric elective surgery, in Uganda and beyond, as we are receiving patients from around the country and will soon open the doors to provide free of charge surgical care to children from neighbouring countries.   “These first six months of activity clearly confirmed that there is a strong need of paediatric elective surgery in the region. A real partnership between international organizations and Ugandan institutions and professionals can pave the way to strengthen local capacity and to provide continuous secondary and tertiary quality care,” she said.   At full capacity, the hospital will employ 385 local people, including 179 medical workers. The facility will be dedicated to training local staff, who will play an integral role improving paediatric surgery and medical care in the country.   The Minister of Health Dr. Ruth Acheng said the facility cost Shs 117 billion and Uganda Government has facilitated it with a 20% contribution and will continue paying 20% of the running costs for 8 years until it is handed over to the Ugandan government.  

A row of stretchers lined the front of the crammed street outside of Kabul’s Emergency hospital on Thursday night, as panicked faces waited and wailed in the immediate aftermath of the coordinated suicide attacks that ripped through the already on-edge Afghanistan capital.The majority of patients were rushed to the starkly red-and-white facility, formally known as the Surgical Center for War Victims and operated solely by the Italian non-governmental organization (NGO) Emergency, which is considered the most critical in Kabul.▲ Afghans wounded in the deadly attacks at the Kabul airport are treated at the hospital on Aug. 27, 2021./AP“We took care of the most urgent cases, and the surgeons and doctors reviewing the patients to make sure they are no missed injuries,” Dr. Gina Portella, Emergency’s Medical Coordinator in Kabul, said in an exclusive interview with The Post on Friday afternoon, acknowledging that the hospital was at first swarmed. “Many people were coming in, in a state of panic, and we just had to reassure them.”The attacks – carried out by the ISIS affiliate in the region known as ISIS-K – killed at least 95 people, including 13 US service members. A further 150 were wounded – and many remain in critical conditions inside the hospital.Portella noted that 38 patients from yesterday’s attacks are at the hospital and are receiving life-saving treatment. The youngest casualty is between the ages of 10 and 15, and the eldest is around 50 to 60. But for the staff, there is little time to ask questions or take down details – it’s about moving as quickly as possible through the hospital, which has a pre-determined protocol and outside area to set up for patients specifically to cater to large-scale bombings.That’s the chilling reality Afghans have dealt with for decades.Almost year-round, the Emergency hospital is brimming not only with the war-wounded but those caught in the crossfire of gang warfare and senseless criminal acts. A sign outside the hospital warns visitors in red letters: “No weapons.”And given that the facility has long been the closest advanced medical care for those in rural areas, many injured Afghans come from far and wide for life-saving treatment – sometimes walking for days in blistering weather conditions – and thus then grappling with severe infections on top of everything by the time they arrive.Portella acknowledged that before Thursday’s assailment, there was actually a brief reprieve from the constant violence after the Taliban takeover almost two weeks ago.“The situation became a little quieter; things seemed a little more stable,” she said. “Then suddenly, there was this attack in very crowded areas.”In my experiences visiting Emergency throughout the duration of the protracted US-led war, one-third of the patients were children — even babies — whose tiny bodies had been battered by bombs and bullets.Emergency, which is stylized in capital letters as EMERGENCY, was first started in 2000 by an Italian war surgeon and human rights activist, the late Gino Strada, while Afghanistan was under the Taliban’s rule. Strada is said to have directly negotiated with then-notorious Taliban leader Mullah Omar, convincing authorities to hand over a bombed-out kindergarten to be built into the hospital that it is today. The center has continued to operate through the ups and downs of mayhem and madness that has befallen the country.And regardless of how the situation unfurls, the EMERGENCY team said it is committed to staying and serving the Afghan people in need long after that final US plane has soared through the skies.“The job isn’t always easy,” Portella added. “But I see what is going on here, and I know the people really need this. The problems here have lasted so long; I have to try to do something.”

Dr. Gino Strada, an Italian surgeon and human rights activist who established a medical charity, Emergency, that says it has treated more than 11 million people in war-torn countries, died on Aug. 13 in Honfleur, in the Normandy region of France. He was 73.His daughter, Cecilia Strada, announced his death on Twitter. She did not cite a cause, but the Italian news media reported that he had suffered from heart problems. Dr. Strada was in Normandy on vacation.Dr. Strada and his wife, Teresa Sarti, founded Emergency, which operates hospitals, rehabilitation centers, trauma clinics and other programs, often on the front lines of conflict, in 1994. He served as the organization’s executive director and public face.Since its founding, Emergency has worked in 19 countries, including Rwanda, Iraq and Yemen. It is now active in eight countries, including Afghanistan.Anyone requiring treatment is admitted to Emergency’s well-equipped hospitals, which are staffed by local residents and an international team. “We never ask, are you Arab or Kurdish or Shiite or Sunni; we just look after immediate needs,” Dr. Strada said about Emergency’s work in Iraq in a 2004 interview with The International Herald Tribune.“Health care is a human right” became the organization’s tenet.A 2012 article in The New York Times Magazine examined the suffering of people in the Afghan war by tracking patients in Emergency hospitals and clinics. “A patient is a patient. This is our rule,” an Emergency Afghan nurse was quoted as saying.Through Emergency’s hospitals and centers, Dr. Strada received a direct view of the devastating effects of war and its legacy of destruction, poverty and unexploded land mines. He was an outspoken antiwar activist, and his firsthand accounts from the front lines often challenged the official narrative.“There isn’t a war where 90 percent of the casualties aren’t civilian,” he said in the 2004 interview.Emergency promoted a campaign that led to a ban on the production of antipersonnel land mines in Italy. It protested Italian military involvement in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. It is the driving force behind the African Network of Medical Excellence, whose aim is to strengthen free high-quality health systems in Africa.Last year, Emergency joined the “People’s Vaccine” campaign, an assembly of health and humanitarian associations and individuals lobbying to ensure that free Covid-19 vaccines are made available to all.On the day he died, as Taliban forces advanced in Afghanistan, the Turin daily La Stampa published a front-page opinion article by Dr. Strada, who had lived in the country off and on for seven years.“We said 20 years ago that this war would be a disaster for everyone,” he wrote. “Today, the outcome of that aggression is under our eyes: a failure from every point of view. More than 241,000 victims and five million displaced.” Afghanistan, he wrote, is “a destroyed country, and those who can will try to escape and endure hell to arrive in Europe,” while only arms manufacturers have benefited from the war.David Lloyd Webber, an Emergency spokesman in Britain, said on Wednesday that Emergency’s Surgical Center for War Victims in Kabul had been “extraordinarily busy over the last few days.”Emergency was conceived by Dr. Strada, his wife, and friends and colleagues around the couple’s kitchen table in Milan in late 1993. The organization’s first project was begun the next year, in Rwanda. Other projects followed, including a pediatric ward in the Central African Republic, a war surgery program in the besieged city of Misrata, Libya, and two Ebola treatment centers in Sierra Leone. Emergency also set up maternity centers, clinics and first-aid posts.In addition, it has projects in Italy to help people on the margins, often immigrants, and it established a campaign called “Nobody Left Behind” to aid Italians who lost jobs or businesses because of the coronavirus pandemic.The organization raised 48.6 million euros ($56.7 million) in 2020, mostly from individual donors, though in recent years funding from institutions and foundations has increased. From the start, Emergency has also depended on a network of volunteers, who raise money selling T-shirts, tote bags and other items in Italy’s piazzas and at events.In 2015 Dr. Strada won the Right Livelihood Award, an international honor given by a Swedish foundation, “for his great humanity and skill in providing outstanding medical and surgical services to the victims of conflict and injustice, while fearlessly addressing the causes of war.”In his acceptance speech, Dr. Strada called contemporary war “a persistent form of terrorism against civilian populations” in which people are maimed by bullets, shrapnel, antipersonnel mines and so-called toy mines. “Treating the wounded is neither generous nor merciful, it is only just,” he said. “It has to be done.”Gino Strada was born on April 21, 1948, in Sesto San Giovanni, an industrial town on the outskirts of Milan. His father, Mario, worked in the Falck steel plant in Sesto San Giovanni. His mother, Giuseppina Cesati, was a homemaker.He went to medical school at the University of Milan and specialized in emergency surgery. He spent four years in the United States, working on heart and heart-lung transplant surgery at Stanford and the University of Pittsburgh. He also trained at Harefield Hospital in England and Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town.He married Ms. Sarti in 1971; she died in 2009. He is survived by his second wife, Simonetta Gola, Emergency’s head of media relations, whom he married in June, as well as his daughter, who works for the charity ResQ-People Saving People, which operates a search and recovery mission for migrants in the Mediterranean.Dr. Strada began working with the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1988, serving people in Pakistan, Ethiopia, Thailand, Afghanistan, Peru, Djibouti, Somalia and Bosnia. That experience laid the groundwork for Emergency.He wrote or co-wrote three books: “Pappagalli Verdi” (“Green Parrots,” 1999), which explored his early experiences working as a surgeon in war zones; “Buskashì: Viaggio Dentro la Guerra” (“Buskashì: A Trip Inside War,” 2002), about Emergency’s efforts to reach Afghanistan after the war broke out; and “Zona Rossa” (“Red Zone,” 2015), which dealt with the Ebola outbreak.Ms. Strada learned of her father’s death while aboard the ResQ-People Saving People ship. In her announcement of the death on Twitter, she wrote that she could not respond to the many messages she was receiving because she and the crew were saving lives (84 migrants were recovered from the sea on that day).“It’s what he and my mother taught me,” she said.

Genoa striker Yayah Kallon had a very special dedication when scoring the Coppa Italia winner against Perugia. ‘Gino Strada was a great man who did so much for Africa.’Kallon got his debut goal in the Grifone jersey, deep into stoppages for a 3-2 victory in the First Round of the tournament.“Unfortunately, Friday was also the day in which we lost Gino Strada,” 20-year-old Kallon told La Gazzetta dello Sport.Strada was a doctor who founded Emergency in 1994, the charity organisation that brings medical assistance and builds hospitals in war-torn areas or those damaged by natural disasters.He died of heart failure at the age of 73.“Strada was a great man, the whole world should thank him. I dedicate my goal against Perugia to him, even though I’m well aware it can never be enough to thank a medic who did so much for my country, where he built hospitals to look after hundreds of thousands of people, and for all of Africa, also during the Ebola outbreak of 2012.”Kallon knows too well what fate he could’ve had if he had not left Sierra Leone and traversed Africa to reach Italy by boat.“I had to leave, or the alternative was to remain and be recruited as a child soldier. It had already happened to some members of my family. At that stage, I spoke to my parents and we made the decision.“I’ve not been home since, but I speak to my parents every two or three days. I told my Mum that I scored for Genoa and she was so happy.”

Gino Strada, the founder of one of Italy\'s most prominent charities and builder of hospitals in war-torn countries, died on Friday aged 73, his medical charity Emergency said.A surgeon and anti-war activist, Strada founded Emergency in 1994 to help civilian victims, providing healthcare in conflict zones around the world, including Iraq and Afghanistan.He had recently suffered from heart problems, Italian media reported.Since its first project in Rwanda in 1994, Emergency has treated around 11 million patients, the group\'s website says, working in 19 countries to set up hospitals and healthcare facilities.A well-known public figure in Italy, Strada was sometimes touted as a possible minister, but his uncompromising anti-war and anti-racism ideas made him political enemies, especially on the right, and precluded him from office.\"He spent his life on the side of the weakest, working with professionalism, courage and humanity in the most difficult parts of the world,\" said Prime Minister Mario Draghi.A critic of most Italian governments over their immigration and defence policies, Strada opposed Rome\'s military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan and became a symbol of the country\'s pacifist movements.His Twitter profile carries a quote from Albert Einstein: \"War cannot be humanised. It can only be abolished.\"Strada also decried Italian health policy, which he said favoured private clinics at the expense of quality public facilities for everyone.Strada published his last newspaper article in the daily La Stampa on Friday about the advance of Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, a country where he spent seven years, fiercely criticising the United States and the western powers.\"We said 20 years ago that this war would be a disaster for everyone. Today, the outcome of that aggression is in front of our eyes: a failure from every point of view,\" he wrote.Strada\'s daughter Cecilia, a former president of Emergency, was not with her father at the time of his death because she was on board a boat rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean.\"I wasn\'t with him, but of all the places I could have been ... well, I was here ... saving lives. That\'s what my father and mother taught me\".

‘Maestro of humanity’: Italian surgeon Gino Strada dies at 73Tributes paid to doctor whose NGO set up world-class hospitals in war zones such as Iraq, Yemen and SudanTributes have been paid to Gino Strada, the Italian surgeon and “maestro of humanity” known for setting up world-class hospitals for the victims of war, who has died aged 73.The medic, who in 1994 co-founded the humanitarian organization Emergency to provide free, quality healthcare for those injured in conflict, died on Friday in France, reports said.Rossella Miccio, the chair of Emergency, said the news had come as a shock. “No one was expecting this. We are dazed and distressed,” she told Corriere della Sera. “It is a huge loss for the whole world. He did all he could to make the world a better place. We will miss him enormously.”A heart and lung transplant surgeon by training, Strada embarked on a mission to help heal those caught up in some of the world’s bloodiest and most intractable conflicts, including in Afghanistan, Iraq and Yemen.Emergency started its work in Rwanda during the genocide, and says it has gone on to treat more than 11 million people in 19 countries. The organisation currently operates in Afghanistan, where it has a world-renowned surgical centre, Eritrea, Iraq, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Yemen and Sudan, as well as Italy.Strada told the Observer in 2013 that the hospitals he set up needed to be at least equal to – if not better than – those in the west.“If you think of medicine as a human right, then you cannot have some hospitals that offer sophisticated, very effective, hi-tech medicine, and then go to Africa and think, ‘OK, here’s a couple of vaccinations and a few shots’,” he said. “Do we think that we human beings … are all equal in rights and dignity, or not? We say, ‘Yes, we are.’”The aim was, he said, to create facilities “that you would be happy to have one of your family members treated in”.Strada’s daughter, Cecilia Strada, said on Facebook that she had not been with him when he died, as she was onboard a rescue ship for the NGO ResQ – People Saving People.“Friends, as you’ll have seen, my father is no longer with us. I can’t reply to your many messages … because I’m in the middle of the sea and we have just performed a rescue,” she wrote. “And this I was taught by my father and mother.”Strada’s wife, Teresa Sarti, with whom he founded Emergency, died in 2009.In a statement, Mario Draghi, the Italian prime minister, praised Strada’s “professionalism, courage and humanity”, while David Sassoli, president of the European parliament, tweeted: “Farewell Gino Strada, maestro of humanity.”Renzo Piano, the Italian architect who designed a paediatric surgical hospital for Emergency in Entebbe, Uganda, said he had learned a lot from Strada, and that his death was “a big loss”.“He was one of these people with a simple, clear belief about science, about solidarity, human solidarity, even about beauty … Because he was one of those people who, talking about the hospital, it was about medical excellence, but it was also about environmental excellence and human excellence,” Piano told the Guardian. “It was kind of humanistic, I guess.”Piano said he had last spoken to Strada a few days ago, as the two men tried to find a way of getting to Uganda for the long-delayed inauguration of the hospital. “The hospital is already working,” he said. “But we never got the moment where [we] officially opened it. The other day we were discussing that: ‘could we try in October?’ It’s very sad.”Giles Duley first met Strada in 2010 at Emergency’s Salam centre for cardiac surgery in Khartoum, Sudan, documenting the surgeon’s work. Their relationship led in part to the photographer and activist going to Afghanistan the following year, where Duley was severely injured, losing both legs and an arm. It was also Strada’s influence, Duley said, that led to him setting up his own foundation, Legacy of War.“He was a man of principle and a man who believed in something,” said Duley. “We sadly live in a world now where few people really are principled. We’re surrounded by politicians who are not principled, and many NGOs lack that leadership.“There was a man who stood up and said what many of us believe: that the cause of so many problems in this world is war, and militarisation, and the profiting of conflict. And he stood up and said: this is what we have to stop.”On the last few occasions Duley saw Strada, he said, he had seemed tired. But he was never going to stop. “He dedicated his life to this work,” Duley said.“He was a man that had completely and utterly given himself to this. The last few times I met him it was obvious that that had taken a toll on him but there was no way he would ever retire or stop – this was his life, and he dedicated himself to people injured by conflict and those needing heart surgery around the world.”Strada had an opinion article in Friday’s edition of the Italian daily La Stampa excoriating the US war in Afghanistan, which he decried as a “failure in every possible way”.Paying tribute to the staff working in Emergency’s health facilities in the country, he wrote: “I cannot write about Afghanistan without thinking primarily of them and of the Afghans who are suffering right now, true ‘war heroes’.”

The Sunhak Peace Prize presentation was made by founder Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, and Sunhak Committee Chair, Dr. Il Sik Hong, at the UPF World Summit with the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace attended by 800 former and current members of parliament from 120 countries. Dr. Gino Strada, 68, a surgeon who works on the front lines of war zones and in refugee camps, and Dr. Sakena Yacoobi, 66, an Afghan educator who teaches in resettlement camps in Afghanistan, were selected as co-recipients of the Sunhak Peace Prize at a ceremony in Seoul, Korea on Friday, March 3.The Sunhak Peace Prize was founded in 2015 by Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, widow of the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, who died in 2013. The Sunhak Peace Prize, awarded biannually, “honors individuals or organizations that have made enduring contributions to peace and human development for future generations,” according to the Sunhak Foundation which gives the award.Dr. Strada is an Italian surgeon and founder of the NGO Emergency, recognized by the United Nations. Emergency has operated in theaters of war in thirteen countries, including Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, and the Central African Republic.In the late 1980s and early-90s, as a heart surgeon with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), he worked in war zones in Pakistan, Ethiopia, Peru, Afghanistan, Somalia, and Bosnia. His field experience motivated him and a group of colleagues to found Emergency as an NGO. He said he wanted to create “a small, agile, highly specialized medical organization.” He wanted to be able to go into conflict areas quickly, bypassing the usual bureaucratic delays.Today, Emergency operates eight surgical hospitals in areas of conflict in Africa and the Asian subcontinent. The organization has also established more than fifty first-aid health care centers near heavily mined areas, many of them in and around areas of active conflict.In his acceptance remarks, Dr. Strada said, “Refugees often ask me, ‘what did I do wrong?’ That question always shocks me. The elimination of war or human conflict is the only practical solution to end human suffering, and it is the only practical solution to end human suffering.”This year’s co-recipient, Dr. Sakena Yacoobi, is the CEO of the Afghan Institute of Learning, which she founded in 1995 in response to the lack of education and healthcare that the Afghan people were facing after decades of war and strife. Since its founding, the organization has either has worked at the grassroots level, establishing four schools, a hospital, and a radio station. Her work has a beneficial impact on the lives of millions of Afghans, especially with her work educating young girls and women. Her efforts have greatly reduced the infant mortality rate and the death rate of Afghan women and improved the illiteracy rate among Afghan women.In her acceptance remarks, she said, “In 1979, all my family members became refugees in the war between the Soviet Union and Afghanistan. I know what deprived me of all my rights; I know what I have forfeited. For that reason, I must pass along this award to Afghan women and children today.”Dr. Hong, who is the former president of Korea University, said, “As a prize founded on the vision for peace in recognition that the people of the world are one family under God, the committee elected to present the refugee crisis as its core theme for the 2017 awards.”Chairman Hong, added, “Presently as we face the largest number of displaced persons on the global level since World War II, the international community must make a transnational effort for the common benefit of humankind.” He added, “In order to create a world of lasting peace, the award’s founder emphasized the love for humanity that transcends divisions of race, national borders, ideology, and religion.”Chairman Hong asserted that “At a time when the global refugee crisis seems to be worsening by the day, these two laureates, who have devoted their lives to fundamentally rebuilding the lives of refugees through providing the most essential of our rights to ‘medical aid’ and ‘education,’ are the heroes of this era.”The award ceremony, held in the Lotte World Hotel in Seoul, was attended by more than 800 delegates, including former President of Kiribati Anote Tong who gave a congratulatory address, saying, “The refugee crisis requires a global response, and therefore we must enhance the global effort through cooperation and coordination between all actors.”

The Sunhak Peace Prize Committee today held their 2nd Sunhak Peace Prize Award Ceremony and awarded a prize of $ 500,000, a medal, and a plaque to Gino Strada, a refugee medical relief activist, and Dr. Sakena Yacoobi, an Afghan woman educator.Dr. Gino Strada has created an international medical ngo called EMERGENCY and has saved over 7 million lives by providing free-of-charge medical relief to war victims in the Middle East and Africa. Dr. Sakena Yacoobi has been recognized as a distinguished educator for women\'s education.The Sunhak Peace Prize is awarded biannually to individuals and organizations who have contributed to the peace and wellbeing of future generations.

Gino Strada, a refugee medical relief activist, and Dr. Sakena Yacoobi, an Afghan woman educator, have jointly been selected as the winners of the 2017 Sunhak Peace Prize. The Sunhak Peace Prize Committee today held their 2nd Sunhak Peace Prize Award Ceremony and presented the two laureates each with $ 500,000 in prize money along with a medal and plaque.Dr. Gino Strada was recognized for his work with EMERGENCY, a humanitarian medical relief organization he founded that provides free of charge medical care to war victims in the Middle East and Africa, and Dr. Sakena Yacoobi was recognized for her dedication to women\'s education in Islamic society.

Segye Times founder\'s birthday and Foundation Day commemoration, interview with the co-laureates of the Sunhak Peace Prize - Italian surgeon, Dr. Gino StradaFebruary 3, 2017Refugees have gone through so much pain as part of a global village suffering from conflict and war. According to UNHCR\'s 2015 Global Report, the number of refugees worldwide is estimated at 16.12 million.  As US President Donald Trump issued an executive order on his immigration ban, and more European nations began the following suit closing their borders, refugees found themselves in more difficulties.  But there are people who have been working hard for more than 20 years for refugees with nowhere to go. Italian surgeon Dr. Gino Strada (68), who saved over 8 million people by providing medical care to war victims in conflict areas around the globe, and Afghanistan\'s female educator Sakena Yacoobi (66), who presented a solution for refugee resettlement through education.  The two winners of the 2017 Sunhak Peace Prize were invited to attend the awards ceremony held at Lotte Hotel World in Seoul, Korea on February 3.  \"The refugees should be equally respected,\" they said in an interview with Segye Times on February 1, \"It is urgent that the international community addresses this crisis.\"​Dr. Gino Strada discusses refugee medical relief in his interview with the Segye Times on February 1 at Lotte Hotel World in Seoul, Korea. By Sang Yoon Ha, Segye Times Beginning with his post with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in 1989, Dr. Gino Strada has spent the last 28 years dedicated to the world\'s conflict zones.  He provided urgently needed medical relief for refugees, the poor, and war victims needing treatment, and also led a campaign to ban war altogether.  His humanitarian achievements were so outstanding, he was even nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.  In 1994, the humanitarian medical care organization EMERGENCY was established to provide high-quality free medical services, running over 60 medical facilities in 17 countries, including Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Iraq, and Sudan, and saving the lives of over 8 million people.  In 2007, Dr. Strada established the Salam Centre, a free-of-charge hospital specializing in heart surgery with state-of-the-art facilities in Sudan.\"The right to be treated is the most basic inalienable right we have as human beings,\" he stressed, \"It is only natural that the best medical services are provided to refugees without discrimination.\"​​― What was your reaction to winning the Sunhak Peace Prize?“I am very honored to receive this award.  Conversely, I was taken by surprise because we did not know that people in Korea knew or were interested in what we do.  I think it is meaningful to award a prize for peace.  I hope it does not just simply end with talks of peace, but that real change can come out of it.”―The Salam Center for Cardiac Surgery in Sudan is well known for its state-of-the-art facilities that do not lag behind other American or European hospitals.  Is there a reason you insist on providing the best facilities?“It took us 30 years to finally construct this.  Victims of war are exposed to mines, bomb fragments, firearms, and other injuries.  Pregnant women have difficulty giving birth due to a lack of proper facilities.  In order to cope with these diverse needs, such facilities are needed.  What if someone you know or a family member was sick and needed to go to the hospital. Where would you want to send them?  Of course, you would want to spend top dollar on the best facilities.  I think everyone should get the best treatment equally without discrimination.”​At the 2nd Sunhak Peace Prize Awards Ceremony held at Lotte Hotel World in Seoul, Korea on February 3, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon is awarding Dr. Gino Strada with a medal and plaque. By Sang Yoon Ha, Segye Times ―Tell us about your plans for the future.“After a successful signing of the \"Manifesto for a Human Rights-based Medicine\" led by EMERGENCY with the governments of Africa in 2008, recognizing the need for high-level medical services, governments have agreed to cooperate towards providing medical care free of charge.  Recently, Dr. Strada has started construction work for a pediatrics center in Uganda. In this way, he aims to build Centres of Medical Excellence across Africa to strengthen national health systems with a regional perspective.  The African continent still lacks good medical facilities with good hygiene.  It is a crime against humanity.” ​―It seems as though the Trump administration (US President) is taking a hostile stance against refugees.  Please share with us your feelings about this.“I am very surprised. The US was built on immigrants.  It has thrived to where it is now because of its diversity. I do not think the US government\'s policy banning immigrants is wise. The good news is, there are lots of movements rising to protest and challenge this move.”​​―What concept would you recommend for the next Sunhak Peace Prize?“If it was up to me, I would suggest war abolition. It is strange that even after thousands of years, mankind still fights fiercely to kill each other.  To stop the ravages of war, the world must endeavor to completely make war a thing of the past.”by Hyejeong Nam, Segye Times hjnam@segye.com

Doctor and educator dedicated to refugees, honored at the 2nd award ceremony;Now all countries around the world must follow suit to solve the refugee crisisFeb 4, 2017Two peace messengers who gave life and hope to refugees throughout the world, were jointly awarded the Sunhak Peace Prize.  The Sunhak Committee (Chaired by Dr. Il Sik Hong) awarded the 2nd Sunhak Peace Prize to Dr. Gino Strada of Italy and Dr. Sakena Yacoobi of Afghanistan, at the awards ceremony held yesterday at the Jamsil Lotte Hotel World in Seoul, Korea.  The Sunhak Peace Prize was enacted as a proposal by the founder of the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, Dr. Hak Ja Han Moon, to realize the ideals set forth by Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who emphasized that global peace must be achieved through true love.  The inaugural award was given in 2015, to Dr. Modadugu Gupta of India, who contributed to the resolution of the food crisis, and President Anote Tong of Kiribati, who strove to cope with climate change.This year\'s laureate, Dr. Strada, founded EMERGENCY, an international humanitarian medical group in 1994, helping over 8 million lives by providing medical relief in conflict zones in the Middle East and Africa. In his Acceptance Speech he appealed, \"Renouncing the logic of war and practicing fraternity and solidarity is not only desirable but urgently needed if we want the human experiment to continue.\"  Dr. Yakoobi is called \"Mother of Education\" in Afghanistan.  She founded the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) in 1995 with the belief that education is the only solution for the future of refugees, and educated over 13 million. Dr. Yacoobi stated, \"When you share love, compassion and wisdom, you provide humanity with an indestructible base for living in peace and harmony that no one can take away.\"Today, the refugee crisis is a common human issue facing the whole world.  This is also why the Sunhak Committee has focused on the two righteous individuals who have dedicated themselves to solving this crisis.  According to UNHCR\'s 2015 Global Report, 16.12 million refugees have been displaced by war and persecution around the world.  Unlike the rapidly increasing numbers of refugees around the world, their presence is increasingly shrinking.  The majority of them have not even been properly given refugee status.  Recently, many developed countries in Europe and elsewhere, have refrained from letting refugees enter their borders because of risks to national security and employment.  The United States, which held a lenient stance on immigrants, has also began locking its doors.  As President Donald Trump fired an anti-refugee administrative order, more than 50,000 Syrian refugees and 26,000 Somali refugees have fallen into international misery.We now live in an era of one global village where the whole world is coming together. How could we dare claim to care for the common fate of mankind, in such a world where our neighbors are suffering as refugees?  Committee Chairman, Dr. Il Sik Hong stated in his Welcoming Address, \"The international community should make transnational efforts to resolve the refugee crisis for the common good of mankind.\"  The two laureates paved the way for creating solutions to the refugee crisis with incredible courage and devotion.  Now the nations of the world must follow suit, transcending borders and races, and embracing all people as one family.[Original Article]​